The Goddess Of Love

by Barbara Cartland

  Although Lord Warburton seemed to tower above the Greek, Corena thought in horror that he was unarmed.

  She wondered frantically how he could have been so foolish as to come ashore without any protection.

  She wondered whether, if she ran towards him, she would be able to throw herself between him and Mr. Thespidos.

  Then she was aware of the other men who were standing back and who she was certain either had a revolver or a knife in their pockets.

  A streak of agony ran through her body as she thought that there was nothing any of them could do except watch Mr. Thespidos take Lord Warburton away.

  Then Lord Warburton said, still in the tone he had used before,

  “Are you threatening me, my good man?”

  “Perhaps I should explain everything to you a little more fully and in a more private place,” Mr. Thespidos replied. “If your Lordship will kindly walk in through the open door just ahead of you without making any trouble, I will allow Miss Melville to take her father aboard your yacht.”

  Without seeing his face Corena knew that Mr. Thespidos was smiling his evil smile at the success of his plan.

  She was suddenly aware that there was a small open door in the high wall behind her father that she had not noticed before.

  She knew that once Mr. Thespidos had Lord Warburton inside, he and his men would render him powerless.

  Then they would take him to some secret place where they had perhaps imprisoned her father.

  She felt that she could not bear it, could not allow it to happen.

  Yet what could she do?

  She wanted to run to Lord Warburton’s side and at the same time to plead with Mr. Thespidos to take anything, even his yacht, if he would spare him.

  Then, as it appeared that Lord Warburton was about to do what Mr. Thespidos ordered, he took a step forward as if to move towards the open door, but, as he did so, he swung around.

  With the punch of an expert pugilist he caught the Greek a blow on the chin that knocked him backwards onto the ground with a crash.

  His revolver clattered to the ground.

  As his men reached into their pockets for the weapons they carried, a dozen seamen appeared at the railings on the deck of The Sea Serpent with rifles pointing directly at the Greeks below them.

  Corena gasped at what was happening.

  Then, as she thought that the man behind her father was about to press the knife into his body, Sir Priam moved suddenly and shot him in the arm.

  The sound seemed to reverberate in the clear air and, as it did so, Mr. Thespidos’s men turned to run, but they were too late.

  At the end of the quay a number of Policemen appeared led by Hewlett.

  The men hesitated and were lost.

  The Policemen ran forward and seized the four of them.

  The man who had been shot by Sir Priam tried, clutching his arm, which was dripping with blood, to reach the door in the wall.

  Only to find as he did so that two other Policemen were waiting there.

  It was then that Corena with, although she was not aware of it, tears running down her cheeks, clung to her father and he said gently,

  “Thank you, my dearest, I might have guessed that you would be clever enough to save me.”

  “I-it was – Lord Warburton – ” she murmured, but he was not listening.

  Instead he walked to where Lord Warburton was standing waiting for the Policemen to remove the unconscious Mr. Thespidos.

  Sir Priam held out his hand.

  “How can I thank you for coming to my rescue and being so extremely brave about it?”

  “Are you all right?” Lord Warburton asked.

  “A little the worse for wear and very hungry,” Sir Priam replied with a wry smile.

  “Oh, Papa – have they been – starving you?” Corena asked.

  “They were the most unpleasant criminals it was ever my misfortune to encounter,” Sir Priam replied, “and I can only thank God that you are here!”

  Lord Warburton looked at Corena.

  “Take your father aboard and feed him,” he said. “I must speak to the Police about these men and then I will join you.”

  Corena followed her father aboard and only when he sat down at the table in the Saloon did she realise how different he looked from when she had last seen him.

  “Have – they been very – cruel to you. Papa?” she faltered.

  “I will tell you about it later,” Sir Priam answered, “All I want at the moment is something to eat and drink. It is a long time since I have had either. ”

  A Steward hurried away to the galley to bring him eggs and bacon, hot toast and coffee.

  It took a little time and, because she could not help herself, Corena went to the window to see if Lord Warburton was really safe.

  She could see him talking to a man who was obviously a Senior Police Officer and everybody else had left.

  After a long conversation the Officer saluted and Lord Warburton began to come up the gangway.

  Because she was afraid that he might think she was spying on him, Corena went back to the table.

  Her father was already eating as if he had never seen food before.

  Then, as Lord Warburton came into the Saloon, her eyes met his and it was impossible to think of anything but their love.

  *

  Very much later in the day after Sir Priam had rested, he was able to tell them a little of what he had undergone at the hands of Mr. Thespidos.

  He made his story amusing, but Corena knew that he was making light of what had been a horrifying experience so that she should not be too upset.

  “He was absolutely convinced that I had found the statue of Aphrodite, which you too are seeking,” Sir Priam related.

  “And did you find it?” Lord Warburton asked.

  Sir Priam took a sip of the very excellent champagne, which had swept away his pallor before he answered,

  “Yes, I have!”

  Corena gave a little cry of delight.

  “Oh, Papa, how wonderful! But you did not – tell them?”

  “They tortured me most unpleasantly,” Sir Priam replied, “but I would not degrade myself by giving these felons something they intended to sell to any bidder who would fill their dirty pockets with gold.”

  “So they did not get the information from you?”

  “No! They were finally convinced that the only person who really knew where Aphrodite could be found was your Lordship!”

  “They were quite right!” Lord Warburton said.

  Corena looked at him in surprise.

  “You do know?”

  “I have found Aphrodite,” Lord Warburton replied.

  He put out his hand as he spoke to Corena who placed hers in it.

  Sir Priam looked from one to the other and then gave a little laugh.

  “So that is what has been happening!”

  “I love him, Papa,” Corena said, “but I only told him the truth about what was happening last night. I was so desperately – afraid that if I did so Mr. Thespidos would carry out his – threat to – kill you.”

  “He told me that is how he had threatened you,” Sir Priam said. “I might have known that you, Warburton, would be clever enough to outwit him!”

  “I could hardly allow my future father-in-law to die so ignominiously,” Lord Warburton replied.

  Both men laughed and Sir Priam raised his glass of champagne.

  “To you both,” he said, “and how, linked together by your love of Greece, could you be anything but very happy!”

  Corena rose to her feet and kissed him.

  Until Lord Warburton insisted that Sir Priam should go to bed and rest, they talked of Greece, its beauty and its treasures, which to Corena seemed very much a part of her love.

  Only when her father had gone to his cabin and she knew that he was half-asleep before Hewlett could help him undress, did she say to Lord Warburton,

  “Are we – leaving?”

  He p
ut his arms round her and said,

  “I believe that we would be very faint-hearted if we left without taking your father’s Aphrodite with us.”

  She looked at him in surprise and he said,

  “I have you, my adorable little Goddess, and I want nothing else, but I cannot allow your father to have suffered for nothing.”

  Corena drew in her breath before she said in a very small voice,

  “Will you – both be safe?”

  “Completely!” Lord Warburton replied. “Thespidos and his gang are now in custody, and will serve heavy sentences not only for this crime but for many others they have committed and for which they have not yet paid the penalty.”

  He saw that she was still worried and went on,

  “When we go to look for your father’s treasure, I will make sure that we are guarded by my own men as well as by the Police, who have already offered us their protection.”

  “You – think of – everything!” Corena murmured.

  “I think of you, because it is impossible for me to think of anything else.”

  He kissed her until the dozens of questions that she had been wanting to ask him slipped away from her mind.

  She was conscious of nothing but the closeness of his arms.

  His lips carried her into the sky and made her feel as if she held the stars against her breast.

  *

  Early the following morning Lord Warburton was, Corena knew, giving orders on deck.

  She wondered what he was planning when he came into the Saloon where her father had just joined her.

  “I feel a different man!” Sir Priam declared as he sat down at the table. “After the food I have been allowed these past weeks, I am now ready to eat the proverbial ox or anything else your Lordship cares to offer me!”

  The Stewards were smiling as they hurried in with half-a-dozen dishes.

  There was fish fresh from the sea and lobsters that had been caught that morning.

  Also several other dishes that Corena knew were Greek and unobtainable elsewhere because it was impossible to find the right fish.

  As Lord Warburton came into the Saloon, Corena thought that she had not seen him look so happy.

  As if he could not help himself, he put his arms around her and kissed her cheek saying as he did so,

  “You look even more beautiful today than you did yesterday!”

  “Yesterday I was frightened,” Corena admitted, “but today I am safe in Greece with – you and Papa.”

  The way she spoke made both men smile at her and, as Lord Warburton sat down at the table, he said,

  “I have something to suggest to you both, which I hope you will agree to.”

  Corena looked at him apprehensively.

  She had a sudden fear that he would want to stay in Greece and send her and her father away on The Sea Serpent.

  “The Captain has been investigating for me in Crisa,” he said, “and has found, as I hoped he would, a Christian Missionary who is spending his holiday visiting Delphi before he returns to Africa.”

  Corena was puzzled before he went on,

  “I thought that nothing could be more appropriate, and I hope, Sir Priam, you will agree that Corena and I should be married in Delphi!”

  For a moment there was absolute silence.

  Then Corena gave a little cry of sheer joy.

  “Do you mean it – do you really – mean it?”

  “It is possible,” Lord Warburton replied, “because every Missionary, as your father well knows, carries with him a consecrated stone.”

  He saw that Corena did not understand and explained,

  “This means that he can conduct marriages, baptise children and give Holy Communion in any place, as long as the stone is with him.”

  He took Corena’s hand in his as he said,

  “We can be married in the Temple of Apollo or, if you prefer, my darling, which I think is more appropriate to you, the Temple of Athena.”

  “That, as it happens, would be very appropriate,” Sir Priam said, “for it is at Athena’s Temple that I have found Aphrodite!”

  “It is really there?” Lord Warburton exclaimed.

  “It is and I found it quite by chance just below the steps leading up to the base on which the Temple stood. Thousands of people must have passed by without realising where she was lying!”

  “And when you found it, what happened?”

  “I was aware, even as I uncovered the top of the head, that I was being watched,” Sir Priam replied. “I was alone at dusk and I realised that it would be dangerous to dig any further.”

  “It was – Mr. Thespidos!” Corena said in a very low voice.

  “It was one of his minions,” Sir Priam corrected, “but Mr. Thespidos was not far away. When I started to walk back to the village where I was staying that night, they seized me.”

  His voice sharpened as he went on,

  “They carried me away to an isolated house where they had camped out so that they could prey on any archaeologists who had discovered anything they thought could be valuable.”

  “The Policemen told me,” Lord Warburton remarked, “that Thespidos himself is suspected of committing several murders when archaeologists have tried to defend their findings.”

  Corena gave a little cry of horror and her father said quietly,

  “It’s all right, my dearest, Thespidos will be in prison for very many years.”

  “I cannot bear to – think of you being in the – hands of that – terrible man!”

  At the same time she looked as she spoke at Lord Warburton and knew that she was also thinking of what would have happened to him.

  “What I have arranged,” he said, as if he wished to change the subject, “is that the Missionary, who is anxious to explore Delphi on his own, will meet us at the Temple of Athena at five o’clock when the other sightseers will have departed and we shall have the place to ourselves.”

  He saw the excitement in Corena’s eyes and continued,

  “What I would like to suggest, Sir Priam, is that when Corena and I are married we will go to the small hotel in the village, which I have taken over for the night.”

  Corena made a little murmur of happiness and looked so lovely as she did so that it was with an effort Lord Warburton carried on to Sir Priam,

  “Food will be waiting for you here in the yacht at whatever time you return, which I presume will be when my men have finished their digging under your supervision and Aphrodite has been carried aboard.”

  “I will be with them,” Sir Priam said briefly.

  “The walk will not be – too much for – you?” Corena asked.

  “If it is, I will be comforted by Aphrodite on the return journey and I shall feel too excited to be tired,” Sir Priam said quietly.

  “We will not have to walk,” Lord Warburton said. “The horses I have hired are, they assure me, the very best in Crisa, and, as they have not made the journey for several days, they will be fresh when they carry us up early in the afternoon.”

  Corena drew in her breath.

  “I cannot imagine a more – wonderful way of being – married!” she exclaimed.

  “That is what I hoped you would say,” Lord Warburton replied. “We will leave your father to be looked after by the Captain in the yacht and we will be alone.”

  He did not emphasise the word, but the expression in his eyes was very revealing.

  Because he had slept very little the night before, soon after luncheon Sir Priam went to lie down and Corena did the same.

  She fell asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow.

  *

  When Corena awoke, she was saying a prayer of thankfulness for the blessings that she had received.

  Her father was alive and had found his Aphrodite and she had found the Apollo of her dreams.

  He was the man she had always imagined was somewhere in the world, but she might never be able to discover him.

  The sun was not as hot as
it had been as they set off up the winding path that led through the olive groves and up the steep hill towards Delphi.

  Once they were out of the Port, Corena could see very clearly the beetling rocks called the Phaedriades – ‘The Shining Ones’, which she knew were always moist from the mountain springs.

  They looked so lovely and long before she saw the pillars and the ruins of Apollo’s Temple she thought that here was a very suitable dwelling place for the God.

  Even lovelier was the view when she looked down than when she had looked up.

  Now she had the impression that the valley, the mountains and the sea were slowly revolving around the Shining Cliffs, which reached a thousand feet above her head, implacably stern and remote.

  When they moved away from the Temple of Apollo, she could see a little below them the ruins of the Temple of Athena.

  Its Doric pillars seemed in the last evening rays of the sun to rise and become whole again as when the Temple was one of the finest sights in Delphi.

  It was not what she saw but what she felt that made Corena recognise that this was the supreme moment other life.

  She was loved and was marrying a man who was indivisibly joined in her mind with Apollo.

  They left the horses behind and walked the short distance down from the Temple of Apollo to that of Athena.

  It was then that they saw standing there with his back to the three columns that remained unbroken the Priest who was to marry them.

  Behind him on one of the fallen pillars was his consecrated stone.

  Corena had travelled up the hill on a comfortable saddle that Crisa provided for tourists.

  It was more like a seat on the horse’s back, and Lord Warburton had covered it with a white silk cloth.

  This not only protected her gown but also made it even more comfortable than it would otherwise have been.

  She did not even have to bother with holding the reins in her hands because the horses were led.

  She knew, as Lord Warburton kept gazing at her, that in her white gown, which was simple but in exquisite taste and with a shady hat that protected her skin from the sun, she looked very bridal.

  When they reached Delphi, she left her hat with the horses and put a wreath of white flowers on her head.

  Lord Warburton had also provided her with a small bouquet of white roses to carry in her hand.